The corrosive resistance of material can depend on whether the material exposed to the corrosive substance is under stress. In other words, materials that would not otherwise fail when exposed to a corrosive environment can fail if they are exposed to the same environment when under stress. Methods and devices have been developed to test materials to better understand how certain material will perform when exposed to potentially corrosive materials while under stress. Stress corrosion testing devices and methods typically involve evaluating test materials after they have been under stress in a potentially corrosive environment for a period of time.
In many testing applications, it is desirable to make efficient use of the potentially corrosive materials used in the test and to conduct the test in a consistent and controlled manner.